6 Weird Reasons Your Vision Is Blurry

Some things should be blurry, like a hummingbird’s wings as it flits through the air. Others, like your eyesight, should not. Having blurry vision can range from being slightly inconvenient to pretty panic-inducing. No matter how you feel about it, seeing your eye doctor should climb to the top spot on your to-do list.

“There [is] a whole host of things that cause blurry vision, and a comprehensive eye exam can help figure things out,” Phillip Yuhas, O.D., an optometrist and faculty member at The Ohio State University College of Optometry, tells SELF.

To prepare for your appointment, here are some of the most common causes of blurry vision.

1. You might have blurry vision because you need new glasses or a new contact lens prescription.

If you wear glasses or contacts, this probably isn’t your first time at the blurry-vision rodeo. People tend to need stronger prescriptions over time because the human eye changes with age, Dr. Yuhas says. For example, the shape of your eyes’ lenses starts shifting all the way back in childhood, eventually making it harder to focus on close objects in a way you’ll probably notice in your early- to mid-40s, according to the American Optometric Association (AOA).

The issue is that if you don’t have the proper prescription to match your eyesight, light rays won’t focus properly on your retina, the tissue lining the back of your eye that sends visual messages to your brain, Katherine Osborn Lorenz, O.D, M.S., director of global medical affairs and vision care at Johnson & Johnson Vision, tells SELF. That can leave you with blurry vision. “A new prescription will move the light rays entering your eye back to where [they need] to be to see clearly,” Dr. Lorenz says.

Since everyone’s eye needs are different, the AOA recommends that you talk to your eye doctor about how often you should get your eyes checked if you already wear glasses or contacts. Some recommend that you come in every year, while others recommend visits more or less often—but either way, you should be seeing an eye doctor at least once every two years as a baseline.

2. Your blurry eyes could be due to astigmatism.

Astigmatism is an eye condition that can cause less-than-optimal vision, according to the AOA. It happens when the cornea (the clear front cover of your eye) or lens inside your eye is irregularly shaped. Much like using an outdated prescription, this keeps light from focusing properly on your retina, so you wind up with blurry vision.

It’s possible to have slight astigmatism that doesn’t affect your vision, but if yours needs treatment, your eye doctor can help you figure out which glasses or contacts are best. Laser surgery like LASIK may be an option, too.

3. You have dry eye that’s messing with your eyesight.

Dry eye is a condition that happens when your eyes can’t lubricate themselves well, the AOA says. It usually boils down to one of two causes, per the National Eye Institute: Either the amount or quality of tears in your eyes aren’t holding up their end of the bargain, so your eyes dry out.

Unfortunately, dry eye can leave you with a gritty, irritated, and scratchy feeling in your eyes as well as blurry vision, Mina Massaro-Giordano, M.D., co-director of the Penn Dry Eye & Ocular Surface Center and a professor of clinical ophthalmology at the University of Pennsylvania, tells SELF.

If your vision isn’t as good as it could be and you have some symptoms of dry eye, see your eye doctor. You may be able to tackle a milder case of dry eye with rewetting drops, while a more severe one might benefit from prescription eye drops to keep your eyes from getting inflamed, special contact lenses, plugging your tear ducts surgically so they stop draining moisture away too quickly, or other treatment options.

4. Pink eye can cause cloudy vision, too.

Also known as conjunctivitis, this eye condition happens when inflammation or an infection irritates your conjunctiva (the mucus membrane that covers the front of your eyes and lines the inside of your eyelids), according to the Mayo Clinic.

Suspect you have pink eye? See your doctor. If a virus caused your pink eye, your body will simply have to fight off the infection. You’ll need to make life as easy on your eyes as possible in the meantime, so if you use contact lenses, your doctor will probably tell you to stop wearing them for now. If you happen to have bacterial pink eye, your eye doctor may prescribe antibiotic drops. And, if your pink eye is due to allergies, your doc might recommend specific eye drops to help with symptoms like itchiness and puffiness, the Mayo Clinic says.

5. You have keratitis, corneal inflammation from infection or an injury.

Keratitis happens when one of your eye’s corneas get all wonky and inflamed, whether you scratched your eye, wore your contacts too long, have a virus like herpes (yup, herpes can affect your eyes), or because something else has compromised your eye health, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Among other symptoms, keratitis can cause pain, redness, tearing or discharge, sensitivity to light, and blurry vision, per the Mayo Clinic. It’s important to treat it ASAP, because it can cause permanent vision damage. Your eye doctor will treat the condition depending on what caused it, so get in to see them stat.

6. Finally, if you have diabetes, blurry vision can be a sign that your blood sugar is too high.

Diabetes is a condition that affects how your body uses glucose (aka blood sugar, which you need for energy). Having either type 1 or type 2 diabetes can cause glucose to build up in your bloodstream, leading to symptoms that can affect various parts of your body, including your eyes. If your blood sugar climbs too high, your body might pull fluid from your eyes’ lenses, which can result in blurry vision, according to the Mayo Clinic.
While your eye doctor can adjust your eyewear prescription to try to accommodate this change, getting your blood sugar under control is really the only way to fix the issue, Dr. Yuhas says.

People with uncontrolled or poorly controlled diabetes are also at a higher risk for eye issues like cataracts, which can occur when the lenses of your eyes cloud up, says Dr. Lorenz. As is the case with blurry vision, getting a different eyewear prescription may help for a bit. When that stops working, the only way to cure cataracts is surgery, the Mayo Clinic says.

Beyond that, one major diabetes complication involves damage to your retina’s blood vessels, which can eventually lead to blindness. This is part of why getting a handle on diabetes—and going to the doctor for regular eye exams—is so important.

It can be tough to try to figure out on your own why your vision is blurry, so don’t hold off on seeing your eye doctor if you’re concerned.

“Getting in to see your doctor is very important to getting a proper diagnosis and treatment,” Dr. Yuhas says. That way, you can hopefully stop feeling like someone smeared coconut oil over your eyes and start seeing the way you should.